#just another Junnn11-inspired piece before getting back to serious business

[leaping-laelaps-art]

Falcatamacaris bellua is not, as it may seem at first glance, a fictive trilobite designed by a 6-year old, but a large (~10 cm) arthropod from the Weeks Formation (early Cambrian) notably distinguished by curved pleural spines (giving it its name*), a weakly biomineralized cuticle, and an unwillingness to be classified precisely.

Bonus views of the quick 3D model I made as a drawing reference:

References and notes:

*name which, by the way, is based on an incorrect use of the latin falcatus,-a,-um in its unexplainably inflected form falcatam, which exasperates me disproportionately (name should be Falcatacaris (how did the reviewers not give them shit for that mistake?)) (i am experiencing several taxonomy-related annoyances these days (perhaps i just need something inconsequential on which to take out my anger (anyway))).

Available fossil material of Falcatamacaris only features the dorsal carapace along with limited evidence for 3 cephalic pairs of limbs (but apparently no antennae) (Ortega-Hernández et al. 2015). The walking appendage morphology and arrangement depicted here is therefore only speculative and based on a generalized artiopodan (a broad group including trilobites and friends, within which Falcatamacaris has an uncertain position), after Sein & Selden (2012).

References:

Ortega-Hernández, J., Lerosey-Aubril, R., Kier, C., & Bonino, E. (2015). A rare non-trilobite artiopodan from the Guzhangian (Cambrian Series 3) Weeks Formation Konservat-Lagerstätte in Utah, USA. Palaeontology, 58(2), 265–276. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12136

Stein, M., & Selden, P. A. (2012). A restudy of the Burgess Shale (Cambrian) arthropod Emeraldella brocki and reassessment of its affinities. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 10(2), 361–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2011.566634

#mild taxonomic pissiness #just another Junnn11-inspired piece before getting back to serious business #as a treat #falcatamacaris #artiopod #arthropod #cambrian #paleozoic #paleontology #palaeoblr #paleoart #my art